The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that the United States sent messages to the Israeli government over the past week expressing President Donald Trump’s opposition to plans for the Israeli army to remain beyond the “yellow line” inside the Gaza Strip and maintain control over more than half of the territory. He demanded that the army carry out an additional withdrawal from the Strip.

The newspaper noted that Trump insists on moving forward to the second phase of his plan to end the war on Gaza and on imposing this on Israel. However, implementing the plan will be influenced by his upcoming meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the end of this month. It also mentioned that the Trump administration was “positively surprised” by Hamas’ adherence to its commitments and its ability to locate all the bodies of the Israeli captives.